china confidential
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Hu: China's Economy Must Continue to Grow
Chinese President Hu Jintao said the world’s fourth-largest economy can expand quickly enough for the nation’s 1.3 billion people to become wealthy by 2049, in a speech that highlighted the political challenge of China’s slowing growth as much as it did 30 years of market reforms.
Amid a list of achievements, Hu acknowledged the difficulties facing China, including lagging productivity and a lack of innovation, and called repeatedly throughout his remarks for greater government accountability and focus on serving the public.
Today’s celebration of China’s decision to embrace a capitalist economic system coincides with sputtering economic expansion that is a serious concern for a government whose justification for one-party rule is tied to delivering greater prosperity. The $3.3 trillion economy is 68 times larger than in 1978, when former leader Deng Xiaoping began the reforms.
“China’s growth needs the world, while the world can’t grow without China,” Hu said in a 93-minute speech to Communist Party cadres at the Great Hall of the People in the center of Beijing. “Our development model must be sustainable, our focus must be to lift the standard of living of the people, ensure social equity, stability and harmony.”
Continue here.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Nervous Rich Rush to Gold; $2,000 Price Predicted
Foreign Confidential....
Write this down: gold will hit $2,000 an ounce by June 2010.
The rush to gold is unparalleled.
Arnd Wiegmann and Lisa Jucca report from Switzerland:Sealed off by grey concrete walls and barbed wire, the workmen in protective glasses and steel-toed boots at this smelter cannot work fast enough to meet demand from the nervous rich for gold.
This refinery near Lake Lugano in the Alps is running day and night as people worried about recession rush to switch their assets into something that may hold its value.
"I have been in the gold business for 30 years and I have never experienced anything like this," said Bernhard Schnellmann, director for precious metal services at the refiner Argor-Heraeus, one of the world's three largest.
Click here to continue.Israel Defense Chief: Iran Could A-Bomb America
A senior Israeli leader has confirmed what this reporter and other observers have been saying for several years: the United States is vulnerable to an Iranian nuclear attack from the sea.
AP reports:Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Wednesday that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States.
Speaking at a conference of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, the defense minister said the world should press Iran to stop it from building nuclear weapons.
"If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America," Barak told the audience.
Indicating the possibility of a military strike, Barak said, "We are not taking any option off the table, and we recommend to the world not to take any option off the table, and we mean what we say." Tuesday, December 16, 2008
China Likely to Increase Gold Reserves
China increasingly sees gold as an attractive alternative to the dollar--a tangible asset that will not lose its value over time.
China fears that the U.S. bailout package and stimulus spending will be funded by printing new money or issuing huge amounts of new debt, either of which will put severe pressure on the value of the dollar.
The United States holds 8,133.5 tonnes of gold reserves valued at US$188.23 billion. China holds gold reserves of just 600 tonnes, worth only US$13.89 billion.
Beijing's reserves could easily go up to 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes, analysts say.Japanese Central Bank Could Trigger Gold Buying
The Fed cut short-term interest rates today to nearly zero and promised aggressive new tactics to prevent the recession from deepening.
The historic rate cut sent gold futures soaring.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Dune Lawrence reports from Beijing:
Foreign Confidential....
The Bank of Japan will meet this Thursday and Friday amid speculation that the Japanese central bank will follow the U.S. Federal Reserve's lead, driving domestic interest rates back toward a zero policy and potentially triggering gold buying.
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